The Best Fight Sequence

I just can't stop thinking about the fight sequence I saw this week.  It really struck me on any number of levels: totally epic and awesome, yes, but not just that.  So here are some thoughts on what made it so amazing.

I’ve seen a lot of Doctor Who—more or less every episode from Doctors 3-11, in fact.  And again and again, I’ve noticed that the bigger the purported stakes of an episode, the lesser the actual stakes—because when the stakes are too high, the Doctor cannot lose.  The show runners are not going to end the Doctor’s life permanently, and they aren’t going to destroy the Earth and they definitely are not going to destroy the entire universe and all time and space.  So if those are the purported stakes, then there are no actual stakes.  On the other hand, Doctor Who as a show has shown a willingness to kill off characters you’ve just met and come to care about in an episode.

To have actual stakes:

1. The audience must care about what’s at stake (which requires universe consistency)

2. It must be possible for the hero to lose

It’s not Doctor Who I’ve been watching recently, however, but the anime Bleach.  I’ve just finished the third season, and it had one of the single best and most memorable fight scenes I’ve ever encountered in anything.  Let me explain.  (Will include spoilers.)

In Bleach, there are special living swords that can be unlocked to greater power.  There are two stages of unlocking, and the greater stage is called Bankai.  Bankai is different for each sword, but frequently involves the sword turning into a giant monster to fight beside its person.

In order to defeat a powerful opponent, our hero, Ichigo, learns how to release his Bankai.  And the truth was, I was absolutely dreading seeing his Bankai.  We’d already had a giant ice dragon and a giant fire phoenix and a giant acid-spewing baby and a giant snake.  They had cool designs, but ultimately—was Ichigo’s Bankai just going to be another big monster?  Or maybe some souped-up version of his ability to shoot energy from his sword?  I shrank back in my chair and prepared to be underwhelmed.

And then.

And then I saw his Bankai, and I almost cried, it was so utterly brilliant.  Because it wasn’t a giant monster or a fancy light effect.  No: his Bankai form was him . . . merged with the spirit form of his sword.  Visually, it was striking and immediately obvious—and it also fit his character perfectly.  And I'd never in a million years have expected it.

Every hero has different tools or weapons.  Making these clever, making these fit the character and environment, makes a huge difference.  Bigger is generally not better.

Jackie Chan is famous for making good use of his environment for action scenes, and that’s part of it: variety.  But ultimately, his weapon is not any one external tool but his martial arts—his body and how he uses it, just as Ichigo’s weapon is his living sword.  In Star Wars, the Emperor’s primary weapon isn’t Force lightning or his lightsaber: its his precognition and scheming ability.  And these things are also integral to his personality.

But wait, there’s a twist.

Bleach has a LOT of fight sequences.  Ichigo can lose, and people you care about can die (stakes!) and the weapons and characters are (mostly) extremely varied and interesting.  When I saw Ichigo’s Bankai, it made me deeply happy, and I was prepared to sit out the rest of the fight sequence contentedly. 

And then Ichigo lost.  His Bankai had put too much stress on him.  He was dying.  His opponent was about to kill him.  And . . .

And he did not suddenly find strength, and he was not suddenly saved.  Instead, for the second time in one fight sequences, the tables were turned on the audience.  Something happened that I had no idea was even possible, but which perfectly fit the clues we'd been getting.

You see, in order to go on his current mission, Ichigo had had to undergo some very difficult training.  During one point in that training, he became possessed by a monster (a “Hollow”) and barely threw off the possession at the last moment.  Hollows always wear masks, and a couple of times after that, Ichigo mysteriously found a mask that had saved him from death.  But that had last been many episodes ago.

So: Ichigo is a moment from death, and . . . a mask begins to grow on his face.  He is possessed, and the insane Hollow begins to fight using his body.

The best action sequences move the plot beyond simply who wins.  They involve character development, learning, and changes—and these, too, are stakes.

It helped that Ichigo’s opponent was incredibly interesting and one we’d come to know and respect over the course of the show . . . but that was just icing on the cake.

I am so impressed right now.